Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)
Double Asteroid Redirection Test
past Mission
Type
Impact
Launch
Nov. 24, 2021
Target
Didymos & Dimorphos
Objective
Impact asteroid moonlet Dimorphos
DART was the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.
On Sept. 26, 2022, DART impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, a small body just 530 feet (160 meters) in diameter. It orbits a larger, 2,560-foot (780-meter) asteroid called Didymos.
Credit: NASA
What Was DART?
DART was the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.
Goals | Demonstrate asteroid deflection with a kinetic impactor |
Launch | 10:21 p.m. PST, Nov. 23, 2021, (1:21 a.m. EST, Nov. 24), aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California |
Science Targets | Asteroid Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos |
Type | Impact on Sept. 26, 2022 |
Funding Agency | NASA |
Related Websites |
